Thursday, January 20, 2011

My very first one

Recently, I tried my hand at making a valance. This was new to me, so I had been apprehensive about it, but I am pretty pleased with how it turned out!

I did have a few challenges with which to contend. Our bookshelves stick out in front of the window a few inches, so whatever I made was going to have to be THIN.

It was a process to choose the right fabric. I brought some choices home and Freddie didn't like them, so I had to go back. After narrowing down my next round of choices, we decided on a striped fabric that picks up the paint on the wall quite well.

I bought some really thin wood at the hardware store and it was inexpensive. The nice man there cut it right to size for me--I do feel I get better service at this particular store since the men there probably think I don't know what I'm doing or talking about! My helper and I also bought two packs of hangers to attach to the back.

I also had bought 2.5 yards of fabric and some thin quilt batting. My biggest fear was that the wood would be too thin and the staple gun would go through the fabric on the other side.

On to the pictures....I laid out the batting and my helpers began rolling around and playing on it.

I cut the batting first (not sure why), but then I laid the fabric underneath and cut it about 2-3 inches from the edges. Then, Charlie and I used a staple gun to attach the fabric. I tried to keep the staples from going all the way through by holding the staple gun up a little bit before pulling the handle. I also tried to be careful to keep the stripes even on the sides.

Charlie and Annie adding the hangers on the back. This was Annie's first time helping!

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Here is the finished product on the window.

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You can see from this picture where the shelves stick out and I had to slide the valance in there. There is another one on the other window!

Not bad for the first time! Today is another snow day here, so we start another window project today. It reminds me of this time last year--we assembled all of those shelves you see in the pic above on SNOW DAYS. : )

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About Me

I'm a wife, mom and teacher with a slight DIY addiction. My vices? Gardening, home improvement, tools, crafts and dash of sewing. Assorted life adventures also fair game. My husband and I have two beautiful kids and I shape young minds in my day job as a music teacher.